Because I find this stuff so darned interesting/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif

Source:â â
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

Date:â â
2003-09-10
Chandra X-ray Observatory "Hears" A Black Hole For First Time

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory detected sound waves, for the first time, from a super-massive black hole. The "note" is the deepest ever detected from an object in the universe. The tremendous amounts of energy carried by these sound waves may solve a longstanding problem in astrophysics.

The black hole resides in the Perseus cluster, located 250 million light years from Earth. In 2002, astronomers obtained a deep Chandra observation that shows ripples in the gas filling the cluster. These ripples are evidence for sound waves that have traveled hundreds of thousands of light years away from the cluster's central black hole.

"We have observed the prodigious amounts of light and heat created by black holes, now we have detected the sound," said Andrew Fabian of the Institute of Astronomy (IoA) in Cambridge, England, and leader of the study.

In musical terms, the pitch of the sound generated by the black hole translates into the note of B flat. But, a human would have no chance of hearing this cosmic performance, because the note is 57 octaves lower than middle-C (by comparison a typical piano contains only about seven octaves). At a frequency over a million, billion times deeper than the limits of human hearing, this is the deepest note ever detected from an object in the universe.

"The Perseus sound waves are much more than just an interesting form of black hole acoustics," said Steve Allen, also of the IoA and a co-investigator in the research. "These sound waves may be the key in figuring out how galaxy clusters, the largest structures in the universe, grow," Allen said.

For years astronomers have tried to understand why there is so much hot gas in galaxy clusters and so little cool gas. Hot gas glowing with X-rays should cool, and the dense central gas should cool the fastest. The pressure in this cool central gas should then fall, causing gas further out to sink in towards the galaxy, forming trillions of stars along the way. Scant evidence has been found for such a flow of cool gas or star formation. This forced astronomers to invent several different ways to explain why the gas contained in clusters remained hot, and, until now, none of them was satisfactory.

Heating caused by a central black hole has long been considered a good way to prevent cluster gas from cooling. Although jets have been observed at radio wavelengths, their effect on cluster gas was unclear since this gas is only detectable in X-rays, and early X-ray observations did not have Chandra's ability to find detailed structure.

Previous Chandra observations of the Perseus cluster showed two vast, bubble-shaped cavities in the cluster gas extending away from the central black hole. Jets of material pushing back the cluster gas have formed these X-ray cavities, which are bright sources of radio waves. They have long been suspected of heating the surrounding gas, but the mechanism was unknown. The sound waves, seen spreading out from the cavities in the recent Chandra observation, could provide this heating mechanism.

A tremendous amount of energy is needed to generate the cavities, as much as the combined energy from 100 million supernovae. Much of this energy is carried by the sound waves and should dissipate in the cluster gas, keeping the gas warm and possibly preventing a cooling flow. If so, the B-flat pitch of the sound wave, 57 octaves below middle-C, would have remained roughly constant for about 2.5 billion years.

Perseus is the brightest cluster of galaxies in X-rays, and therefore was a perfect Chandra target for finding sound waves rippling through the hot cluster gas. Other clusters show X-ray cavities, and future Chandra observations may yet detect sound waves in these objects.

For images and additional information on the Internet, visit: http://chandra.nasa.gov

http://www.speakeasy.org/~mattdp/Gandalfsig1.gif

XyZspineZyX

09-10-2003, 02:11 PM

Because I find this stuff so darned interesting/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif

Source:â â
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

Date:â â
2003-09-10
Chandra X-ray Observatory "Hears" A Black Hole For First Time

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory detected sound waves, for the first time, from a super-massive black hole. The "note" is the deepest ever detected from an object in the universe. The tremendous amounts of energy carried by these sound waves may solve a longstanding problem in astrophysics.

The black hole resides in the Perseus cluster, located 250 million light years from Earth. In 2002, astronomers obtained a deep Chandra observation that shows ripples in the gas filling the cluster. These ripples are evidence for sound waves that have traveled hundreds of thousands of light years away from the cluster's central black hole.

"We have observed the prodigious amounts of light and heat created by black holes, now we have detected the sound," said Andrew Fabian of the Institute of Astronomy (IoA) in Cambridge, England, and leader of the study.

In musical terms, the pitch of the sound generated by the black hole translates into the note of B flat. But, a human would have no chance of hearing this cosmic performance, because the note is 57 octaves lower than middle-C (by comparison a typical piano contains only about seven octaves). At a frequency over a million, billion times deeper than the limits of human hearing, this is the deepest note ever detected from an object in the universe.

"The Perseus sound waves are much more than just an interesting form of black hole acoustics," said Steve Allen, also of the IoA and a co-investigator in the research. "These sound waves may be the key in figuring out how galaxy clusters, the largest structures in the universe, grow," Allen said.

For years astronomers have tried to understand why there is so much hot gas in galaxy clusters and so little cool gas. Hot gas glowing with X-rays should cool, and the dense central gas should cool the fastest. The pressure in this cool central gas should then fall, causing gas further out to sink in towards the galaxy, forming trillions of stars along the way. Scant evidence has been found for such a flow of cool gas or star formation. This forced astronomers to invent several different ways to explain why the gas contained in clusters remained hot, and, until now, none of them was satisfactory.

Heating caused by a central black hole has long been considered a good way to prevent cluster gas from cooling. Although jets have been observed at radio wavelengths, their effect on cluster gas was unclear since this gas is only detectable in X-rays, and early X-ray observations did not have Chandra's ability to find detailed structure.

Previous Chandra observations of the Perseus cluster showed two vast, bubble-shaped cavities in the cluster gas extending away from the central black hole. Jets of material pushing back the cluster gas have formed these X-ray cavities, which are bright sources of radio waves. They have long been suspected of heating the surrounding gas, but the mechanism was unknown. The sound waves, seen spreading out from the cavities in the recent Chandra observation, could provide this heating mechanism.

A tremendous amount of energy is needed to generate the cavities, as much as the combined energy from 100 million supernovae. Much of this energy is carried by the sound waves and should dissipate in the cluster gas, keeping the gas warm and possibly preventing a cooling flow. If so, the B-flat pitch of the sound wave, 57 octaves below middle-C, would have remained roughly constant for about 2.5 billion years.

Perseus is the brightest cluster of galaxies in X-rays, and therefore was a perfect Chandra target for finding sound waves rippling through the hot cluster gas. Other clusters show X-ray cavities, and future Chandra observations may yet detect sound waves in these objects.

For images and additional information on the Internet, visit: http://chandra.nasa.gov

Very much so!
The idea that the universe resonates with sound, a symphony of singularities sending their deeper-than-deep tones across the vast reaches of interstellar space, the chords of creation and destruction, if you will.
Music from the stars, for the stars, orchestrating the maelstrom of gases and masses, dancing to a tune peformed just for them... until now.
/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

http://www.speakeasy.org/~mattdp/Gandalfsig1.gif

XyZspineZyX

09-10-2003, 04:56 PM

57 octaves????????

:::drops back in chair and faints:::

<font color="white"><table style="filter:glow[color=blue, strength=4)"><font size=1>"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf"
- George Orwell</table><font color="white">
<font color="red">[/b]</u>[/i]</font size>
<marquee bgcolor="#000000"><font color="yellow"><font size=4>Now in the news................................Ubisoft loses sales due to poor customer service and falsly advertised "technical support".....................In a gathering of top Bush administration officials, word leaked out that America wants to stop N. Korea from building Nuclear Reactors just because N. Korea is full Ubisoft supporters.....................Ubisoft enemies grow %3.25 today.....................Newest patch for Raven Shield include a whopping 14 extra computer crashing bugs, with a bonus extra level that makes your computer explode and kill you.....................New patch available for download for Ubisoft's Raven Shield (patch 1.99999999b).....................Culprit in massive power outage in the N.E. of United States found; A computer gamer was playing Raven Shield, and the FPS' dropped so low, that it drained the electricity of the N.E......................New investigation concludes that Liberia broke into civil war because their president defended Ubisoft, and the citizens did not.....................Author Tom Clancy gets arrested today as he enters game company Ubisoft offices, and strikes a developer several times in the face before escorted out of the building by a SWAT team.....................Man wanted for murder takes hostages in Montana home; police say that the demands are that Ubisoft stops screwing customers over. The police abruptly stopped negotiating when they found out his demands, and sent in the SWAT team in fear that the demands were impossible.....................Ex-Police Chief Charles Moose tells reporters of why he didn't write about his lousy experiences with game company Ubisoft. Moose says he will have to write another book just about that................................Man in L.A. jumps off 7 storey building today. Suicide note tells of a sad story - the man was trying to get Raven Shield to work on his computers for 3 weeks straight with no technical support</marquee><font color="white">[/b]</u>[/i]</font size>

XyZspineZyX

09-10-2003, 06:22 PM

Ah, I have always been interested in Science- and that was my best subject-initially in school-before English and Writing took a front seat.

Wonderful, intriguing stuff Gandalf:

I would submit, for everyones consideration, that this is another example of how God works in wonderful, mysterious ways. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

Leep Out:

http://www.arach.net.au/~allanb/gr/leep/LEEP3.jpg

XyZspineZyX

09-10-2003, 06:29 PM

That was very interesting Gandalf /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

On a side note, I just noticed the quote in your sig. I like it.

http://www.myimgs.com/data/kymmiko/ninjasignourl.jpg

XyZspineZyX

09-10-2003, 09:22 PM

TY, I realize the word 'desensitized' is a bit difficult to read, keep meaning to go fix it, but Im reaaaaally lazy.
It's from a song/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

http://www.speakeasy.org/~mattdp/Gandalfsig1.gif

XyZspineZyX

09-11-2003, 03:10 AM

Desensitized: That means you are really sensitive about the letter D, doesn't it? /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

Demon, don't worry, your beliefs are intact. Perhaps this article shines a little more light on the matter:

After observing the Perseus galactic cluster for 53 hours in August 2002, the Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed ripples in the hot gas that fills the cluster. These ripples appear to be sound waves that would register as a B flat if we could hear the deep tone.
The team that discovered the waves determined their wavelength by calculating the speed of sound in that environment and measuring the distance between wave crests. The frequency is about one cycle (or wave) per 9.5 million years or so; corresponding to a B-flat note about 57 octaves below middle C on a piano.
It's the deepest note ever detected and the first sound waves identified from a black hole. We have observed the prodigious amounts of light and heat created by black holes, now we have detected the sound," said team leader Andrew Fabian of the Institute of Astronomy in England.
The ripples extend hundreds of thousands of light-years from the supermassive black hole at the center of Perseus A (a.k.a. NGC 1275), the dominant member of the galaxy cluster. Fabian's group suspects they are created when two 50,000-light-year-wide cavities, excavated by jets from the black hole, push against the surrounding gas. These cavities also appear in Chandra's observations.
The sound waves could explain why the x-ray-emitting gas in the Perseus cluster has remained hot, rather than cooling off as astronomers would expect. When sound waves move through the gas, they're eventually absorbed by and transfer their energy to the gas. To provide the energy necessary to keep the gas heated, the sound must have been continuous for roughly 2.5 billion years. Fabian and his colleagues targeted the Perseus cluster with Chandra because it's the brightest galaxy cluster in x rays. However, other galaxy clusters have cavities and stubbornly hot gas, so Chandra may find similar waves elsewhere.

So the medium required for a mechanical wave exists in the form of the gas surrounding the black hole. It's own atmospherre, so to speak. However, sound still cannot travel in a vacuum.

http://www.speakeasy.org/~mattdp/Gandalfsig1.gif

XyZspineZyX

09-12-2003, 12:46 AM

So this is a big continuous cloud of gas? I read that it's detected in gas, but I figured it was not continuous, meaning there are breaks in it that are absent of matter, in which the sound waves should end there, short of actually passing through the entire cloud. But I guess I didn't know there are big clouds of gas out there. Interesting stuff.

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

09-13-2003, 07:56 PM

It really gives perspective as to how varst the universe is when this galaxy, or cluster of stars is 250 million light years away. 1 single light year is equivelant to 6 trillion miles.

And apparently there's millions of galaxies out there.

This of course being one of the closer galaxies.
1, 500, 000, 000, 000, 000 miles away...

XyZspineZyX

09-14-2003, 04:55 AM

Yes, I kind of understand the fact that it is vast, but I don't think any of us can ever really comprehend just how vast the universe is. That's why the concept of us being the only intelligent lifeform in the universe just completely escapes me...

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

09-14-2003, 05:21 AM

Demon_Mustang wrote:
- Yes, I kind of understand the fact that it is vast,
- but I don't think any of us can ever really
- comprehend just how vast the universe is. That's why
- the concept of us being the only intelligent
- lifeform in the universe just completely escapes
- me...

Agreed. It also must be noted that the probability of them being close enough to us for us to ever come into contact with them is VERY close to zero. Therefore, the way I see it, it doesn't matter if there may or may not be other intelligent life form out there, as we'll never know. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif